The rather rare Kevin Ayers Alive in California (2004)

If you can find a copy of Kevin Ayers Alive in California you are very lucky indeed. We are currently trying to find someone to re-issue this album since we had an amazing email from Richard Derrick the producer of Kevin Ayers Alive in California. Richard sent us a copy of the album in April 2014, which we were extremely grateful for. The official release date was 16 November 2004.  Release dates in the US are (or at least were) Tuesdays, and that year Richard’s aunt’s birthday fell on a Tuesday, so he released the CD on that date in her honor.

Richard played bass on the album and the first thing I had to do was compliment him on his lovely, sensitive and skilful playing. Richard replied,

“I’ll let you in on a little secret – at the Knitting Factory gig (the first three songs on the disc), I literally couldn’t hear myself!  We were opening for Gong, and used their rental amps.  After their sound check, we had ours, and I left the volume settings where Mike Howlett left them.  Once the room filled up with people, the sound in the room changed, so from where I was standing, the bass amp was inaudible!  I could hear everyone else quite clearly, including the horn players on the other side of the stage, but fortunately, the sound man had a microphone on the bass amp and had it cranked up for the audience.  I guess that’s the ideal way to do a live mix – rather than turn the amps up and have a volume battle where no one hears each other and communication between players is lost, turn the amps down (it was VERY quiet on stage, which is how I like it!), then boost it through the mixing board.  Other than wishing I was a notch or two louder so I could hear myself, I think this is much better than the usual way people do live shows.  I remember just hoping I was in tune – guess I was!”

Well I certainly can’t fault Richard’s playing on this album, it sounds excellent to me. Richard continues,

“That was a classic gig, by the way – that and the following night in San Francisco were the only times Kevin and Gong played together in the US.  I’d originally booked Kevin to play in October 2000 at the Knitting Factory, which was just opening – I remember going there to talk about it, and the stage was still being built!  They put me in touch with Glenn Max in New York, who booked the original Knitting Factory in NYC and was handling the LA schedule as well.  He gave me a date in October, then a few days later, someone told me that Gong was scheduled for September.  That seemed too good of a double-bill to pass up, so I asked Glenn if we could move Kevin up a month.  His response was (paraphrasing), ‘I’ll be happy to do whatever you want, but I need to let you know that each show has its own budget, and Gong’s concert doesn’t have any money to pay an opening act – they’re a seven-piece band with a road crew, so it’s already costing a lot.  So if you want Kevin to headline his own show, I’ll guarantee your $800 fee, but if you want him to open for Gong, I can’t pay you anything.  Think about it, and let me know what you want to do.’ That was completely fair of him – he knew both acts and saw the historic value of putting them together, but the budgets were limited per show.  The same deal applied with the venue in SF.  I gave it a couple days of thought, knowing that it would mean an extra $1600 out of my own pocket if I had to pay Kevin to open for Gong for two shows… then I thought, “What’s $1600 when there’s history to be made?”  Now, 14 years later, that $1600 means nothing, and we all have the memory of two great concerts!”

How amazing is that? This has to be a major reason why this album should be kept on sale, it really is a priceless recording.

There is a superb review of the CD by Martin Wakeling from Manchester, that is well worth a read. I love this part of Martin’s review:

You will not believe that these gigs were prefaced by an absolute minimum of rehearsal – in that respect they acquire a fascinating perspective to offset the other live set of 1995’s ‘Turn The Lights Down’, captured after a week of intense playing every night with the Wizards of Twiddly. Richard Derrick has chosen a personal selection of songs from 4 gigs in LA and San Francisco between 1993 and 2000. Skilfully captured on a mixture of DATs, soundboards and audience cassettes, the setlist emerges as a seamless experience with the subtleties between the different (and previous) bands a secondary factor.

…Flute and sax add a welcome texture to the songs and some storming guitar work from both Ken Rosser and Victor Manning reminded me why I loved these sets the first time I heard the rough mixes. Miracles have been performed to the sound quality which literally sparkles.Kevin is on fine form throughout, relaxed and bantering with a passionate crowd who appear to be sitting on his lap in places. Spontaneity at a Kevin Ayers gig is the first ingredient we would all want and recognise – the humanity of that occasional dodgy intro or outro is a vital counterpoise to understand the magnificence of what may follow; the silence in the spaces the prelude to the genius in between. This is Kevin Ayers alive.

Martin Wakeling also wrote the sleeve notes for Kevin Ayers Alive in California.

Kevin Ayers Alive in California Sleeve Notes

‘Come on and join the dance, it goes round and round Until the things you’ve lost become the things you’ve found’

Throughout 1968, a crazy dance had led Kevin Ayers across America with The Soft Machine in support of Jimi Hendrix. An endless, faceless zigzag of planes, gigs and hotels soured this ultimate rock’n’roll experience and left Ayers physically and mentally exhausted. Recovery – and the birth of a solo career- was found in a retreat back to a gentler lifestyle that has continued to exist on the border between blue sky hedonism and the darker twilight reflections that divide sleeping and wakefulness. Such escapes have punctuated Kevin’s long career like pressure valves.

This early American experience would leave distinctive scars on an artist who, among the many paradoxes that mark his music and persona, is widely recognised for his perceived ‘Englishness’ and yet whose allure and sensitivities are universal. Lacklustre attempts by record companies to promote Kevin to the American public during the 1970s came to nothing, and a fleeting handful of club appearances around New York in the spring of 1980 were locally well-received, but no following momentum was sustained. Kevin maintains a consistent loathing for music’s ‘appearance business’ – the ruthless push towards a superficial, transitory commercial success; the language of ‘product’ blurring both artist and audience into an amorphous and dehumanised mass.

In truth, it would be unfair to lay the entire rationale for this at the door of Kevin’s American experiences. Always happier far beyond the mainstream, his privacy largely intact, his genius accorded cult status and a large measure of artistic respect from the peers of several musical generations, the spaces between gigs grew longer and the intervals between some variable albums grew even wider throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Those who shared  the secret of his songs, those who understood that these fallen autumn leaves still glowed with the warmth of summer, feared that each rare appearance might be the last – or that the last opportunity would never arrive.

The death of guitarist Ollie Halsall in May 1992 would rob Kevin not only of his musical director but also of a spiritual brother. A musical and personal road they had travelled together for nearly 20 years had ended. The dance had stopped…

Kevin Ayers did not stop. He somehow gathered the force, the self- determination, the motivation and the will to start the dance again. Old friend Archie Leggett joined him on bass for a lengthy tour of Europe. And, perhaps greatest of all surprises, as the dance came round again, ultimate salvation came from America.

An invitation came via Rick Chafen of VoicePrint US for a string of dates in February and March of 1993. The deal was to comprise a series of low-key, solo club dates across the continent, travelling on stand-by airline tickets and hospitality courtesy of fans, friends and admirers. It seemed to be the ultimate challenge: Kevin had not performed solo for nearly 20 years.

Yet the challenge was taken up and, in spite of a borrowed guitar with a reluctance to stay in tune, some visible nerves and fears, and a bout of illness that wiped out three gigs, the tour went ahead. The other perspective that came through to the early Why Are We Sleeping fanzine was the sheer joy from the US contingent of fans who had waited half a lifetime to see that tour announcerrfent in the newspaper. Their words became a mantra – ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes …. ‘, ‘I never thought I’d see this moment’ – and reinforced once again that the Kevin Ayers network unites a global family who need no explanations or introductions amongst each other.

Perhaps Kevin laid many ghosts to rest during that solo period in America. Certainly, it kickstarted a decade of significant touring that continues to this day. Further solo US dates followed in the fall of 1993, some of which saw fellow Soft Machine and Gong friend Daevid Allen joining Kevin on stage. Returning to Europe, a rejuvenated Kevin was to link up with Liverpool acid jazzsters The Wizards of Twiddly’ for a spell. Projects also followed with the electronic Ultramarine and, latterly, the Belgian Starvin’ Marvin Band.

Kevin was back in the US in May 1998 and September 2000 for the unique music you are to hear on this CD. Once again, the global family were to light the flame that brings these magical songs to life – Richard Derrick’s (Los Angeles) and Victor Manning’s (San Francisco) bands of friends rehearsed, arranged, booked venues and then played. Longtime friend John Altman just happened to be in L.A. for the Emmys at the time of Kevin’s 2000 gig, found out by surfing the Net while in his hotel room, and invited himself to sit in with the band. The lights were turned low, and the man in the black silk shirt who had permeated the soundtrack of their lives stepped in front of them and sang.

Familiar Kevin Ayers, yet different. California is in these songs. The lost energy of 1968 grew beneath the sun and became golden. Thank you, America, from all of us, for rejoining the dance.
Martin Wakeling July 2004

Track Listing

1. May I? 4.58
2. Didn’t Feel Lonely ‘Till Thought Of You 5.10
3. Lady Rachel 7.12
4. I Don’t Depend On You 3.52
5. When Your Parents Go To Sleep 4.29
6. Shouting In A Bucket Blues 3.56
7. Everybody’s Sometime And Some People’s All The Time Blues 3.45
8. See You Later 2.10
9. Ghost Train 5.08
10. Mr. Cool 3.03
11. Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes 4.10
12. Blaming It All On Love 4.05
13. Why Are We Sleeping? 7.58
14. Thank You Very Much 4.22
15. Hat Song 1.34

Here’s a slightly edited and revised version of the text I wrote in April 2014 for the much anticipated re-release of Kevin’s album ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’. In April 2017 Charly Records announced that the album “will be released across all formats…later in 2017”.

“The story of Kevin Ayers’s album ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ is a strange one. It begins in Mallorca, takes us to New York, then Madrid and it’s about to touch down for a while on your stereo. Who knows where the tale will finally end…

As the 1970s rolled into the 1980s, Kevin Ayers formed a band in Mallorca with the guitar player Joan Bibiloni and other local musicians. They started writing and rehearsing many of the songs which eventually appeared on ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’. A music-loving businessman became Kevin’s manager and invested money in the band and their new project. Kevin and his band recorded demos at the Maller Studio in Palma de Mallorca during December 1980. They also played the songs at live gigs throughout Mallorca. There was a “good vibe” around the band and the music.

In 1981 Kevin asked his best friend and “love at first solo” guitarist Ollie Halsall to come to Mallorca to work on the new album and to play gigs. Ollie brought his Swedish girlfriend, Zanna Gregmar, who was a keyboard player and vocalist, with him. Once Ollie was in the band, Joan Bibiloni took a back seat. With Ollie on board Kevin probably felt he could up the stakes. They played gigs throughout mainland Spain and the positive vibes continued. The Kevin Ayers Band recorded a show for Spanish TV with guests Andy Summers and John Cale.

Kevin, Ollie, Zanna, Kevin’s business manager and Ian Carpenter, his road manager, went to the Electric Lady recording studios in New York to record demos of three tracks: a cover version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’, ‘My Speeding Heart’ and ‘Give a Little Bit’. Kevin’s contacts in New York organised a top producer for the sessions and shopped the tracks around in the hope of securing a deal.

It seemed however that the American record companies were more interested in finding “the next big thing” than supporting the comeback of a talented, but wayward veteran. Drinking with The Clash and an evening spent laughing into a mirror with John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten might explain Kevin’s slightly punk moments on the track ‘Who’s Still Crazy?’ which later appeared on ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’. After a few weeks Kevin and his friends returned to Mallorca hoping they might still receive a phone call asking them to record the album in America, but the call never came.

In 1983 Kevin, Ollie, Zanna and Kevin’s business manager, went to Madrid to finally record the album that became ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’. Kevin had a very good relationship with his business manager who had spent a great deal of money on nurturing Kevin’s career and both of them needed to see a return on this investment. So Kevin’s business manager chose Julián Ruiz, a Spanish music producer, based in Madrid, to work with Kevin on the album. Ruiz had studied sound engineering in Los Angeles in 1980-1981 and by 1983 he had already produced ten albums by various artists.

The recording of Kevin’s album didn’t run smoothly and Kevin later commented that he had little creative control over the song arrangements, production or backing musicians selected by Ruiz. Ollie and Zanna felt the same way. Kevin Ayers was no stranger to musical experimentation but on the original version of ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ the drum machines and synthesizers appear at odds with the natural warmth of his voice. Ollie’s guitar solos seem lost amongst the jangling. It’s very difficult to work out what percentage of the album is Ayers’s input or Julián Ruiz’s intervention. Maybe Ruiz thought the album would reach a wider audience if it featured the up to date sounds of 1983? Julián Ruiz is now a very well known musical producer with over a hundred albums to his credit. Perhaps he really wanted to work with David Bowie or Marc Almond and thought that Kevin would do instead?

The best track on the original version of ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ was the stripped down ‘Champagne and Valium’, which gave us an insight into Kevin’s somewhat tortured state of mind, but did so with charm and humour. When I cranked up the volume on the rest of the album I realised that my nineteen year old art student self would have enjoyed dancing to many of the tracks during my nightclubbing days in the early eighties. Light bulb moment! Was this the destiny that Kevin envisaged for it when he started writing the songs or did the album evolve into something else along the way via New York and Madrid?

Kevin Ayers ‘My Speeding Heart / Champagne and Valium 7″ single, 1983

Apparently ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ was never the working title of the album. Maybe it’s Kevin’s comment on a particular relationship, maybe it’s a reference to heroin, (“No secret Jack inside this box, to help the pain within” – from the track ‘The Unfairground’). Maybe it’s better not to speculate too much…

The original version of the album was finally released in June 1983. In an interview for Dutch radio in 1985 Kevin, honest and forthright as ever, commented that he liked some of the songs on ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ but he didn’t like the production. He repeated this in interviews over the years.

In 1984 the songs ‘Champagne and Valium’, ‘Lay Lady Lay’, ‘My Speeding Heart’, ‘Stop Playing With My Heart (You Are a Big Girl)’ reappeared on a collection of tracks entitled ‘Deia…Vu’. These songs were mostly remixed from the demos which Kevin made with Joan Bibiloni and the other Mallorcan musicians at the Palma sessions in 1980. Production is credited to Kevin Ayers and Joan Bibiloni. The musical arrangements on “Deià…Vu” may be closer to Kevin’s original intentions for his songs, thus making ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’ somewhat of an interesting detour.

I have been privileged to listen to a test pressing of the 2014 vinyl re-issue of ‘Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain’. Some of Kevin’s friends and fans were genuinely astonished when they heard of the plan to re-release the album. “It’s not one of his best,” they said. However Rob Caiger and his team have redefined the tracks by bringing certain instruments to the front of the mix, dampening down the sounds that didn’t work so well and re-establishing Ollie’s solos. There’s more than a nod to Giorgio Moroder in the production, but I like that. Kevin’s voice is now where it should be, at the heart of all the songs, rather than just added on the top or to the side of the music. This is evident in the cover version of J.J. Cale’s ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ and ‘My Speeding Heart’.

I can’t help loving the re-mastered version of this album right now. Maybe it’s the combination of Kevin’s voice and the vinyl.

Kevin Ayers always wrote and sang about his life as he saw it. This album is part of Kevin’s life in the early 1980s. It’s interesting that you can go back and re-master the music, but would you ever want to change the life? Let the music talk…”

Susan Lomas

With many thanks to Ian Carpenter

Kevin Ayers ‘That’s What You Get Babe’ Harvest 1980, LP version

‘That’s What You Get Babe’ is the ninth studio album by Kevin Ayers and his final album for Harvest. Kevin had moved to Deià, Mallorca, after 1978’s ‘Rainbow Takeaway’ and ‘That’s What You Get Babe’ was his first public offering in two years. The album was arranged and produced by multi-instrumentalist Graham Preskett who had been instructed by Harvest to give the album “a more mainstream production”. The influence of late 1970s New Wave music can be felt on the title track and also on the song “Idiots”.

Stand out songs from the album also include ‘Super Salesman’ with Kevin’s long term sidekick Ollie Halsall on scorching lead guitar and the wistful closing track ‘Where Do The Stars End’.

Although the Preskett’s arrangements for the LP met with some hostile responses from fans and critics on release in 1980, the album has been reassessed in recent years and many people feel that it contains a strong selection of Ayers compositions. Kevin himself commented in a radio interview from the mid ’80s that he hadn’t enjoyed “being told to sing in a certain way” for this album.

Track Listing:

That’s What You Get (Ayers)
Where Do I Go From Here (Ayers)
You Never Outrun Your Heart (Ayers)
Given And Taken (Ayers)
Idiots (Ayers)
Super Salesman (Ayers)
Money, Money, Money (Ayers)
Miss Hanaga (Ayers)
I’m So Tired (Ayers)
Where Do The Stars End (Ayers)

Personnel:

Kevin Ayers – Guitar, Vocals
Mo Foster – Bass
Liam Genockey – Drums
Ollie Halsall – Guitar
Roy Jones – Percussion
Neil Lancaster – Vocals
Trevor Murrell – Drums
Graham Preskett – Guitar, Violin, Keyboards, Vocals, Banjo, Mandolin
Clare Torry – Vocals
Geoff Whitehorn – Guitar